Black Cake (Guyanese)

Black Cake is a staple at Christmas in Guyana and many countries in the Caribbean. This is also always served at a Guyanese wedding, always. It's a dense cake that's made of dried fruits, nuts and rum. This cake is soaked in rum weekly and will keep for up to a month, as long as you keep adding alcohol. This will not only preserve the cake, but also keep it moist.

Fruits:
1 lb currants
1 lb prunes
1 lb raisins
¼ lb candied cherries
¼ lb mix citrus peel
¼ lb almond or peanuts
rum or port wine

Cake:
1 lb or 3½ cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
1 lb (4 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups brown sugar
½ tsp. sea salt
10 eggs
caramel or cake colouring (about ¼ cup)
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground mace
1 tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. pure vanilla essence
½ tsp. pure almond essence
¼ cup rum
1 bottle dark rum

For the Fruits:
Wash and grind all ingredients. This can done with a food mill or food processor. Mix in about 2 cups of rum or port wine and allow to sit for at least 2 weeks. Store in an airtight container.

Preheat oven to 275°F (140°C/120°C fan, Gas Mark 1). Grease and line two 9" baking pans with parchment paper; set aside.

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace and cloves; set aside. Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and mix until fluffy and light in colour. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition to make sure egg is incorporated. Please don't rush this step, adding the eggs too soon or too many at one time can cause the mixture to curdle or separate. Add vanilla extract and almond extract to mixture, mix until incorporated. Add fruit mix to wet ingredients and mix well. Add flour to wet ingredients, mix until smooth. Add caramel to achieve desired colour and stir in rum.

Divide equally between the 2 pans. Bake for 2-2½ hours, test by sticking a toothpick in the center, cake is done if toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and pour about 1 cup of rum on each pan of cake. When the cake absorbs the rum, add more rum two more times. Add rum weekly.

To Make Caramel:
Add about ½ cup of sugar to a pan over medium heat. Sugar will melt and darken, added about 2 Tbsp. of red wine and cook until a deep dark colour and it has reduces and thickens.